Enrollment and Advising


Initial Enrollment

At the time of their first enrollment, most students confer with the Director of Graduate Study. If, however, the student has already established contact with another member of the Graduate Faculty with whom the student would prefer to have as advisor, students are encouraged to seek advice from that person.

Enrollment in Graduate Courses

Graduate work is considerably more demanding and involves much more independent investigation than undergraduate study. The department regards nine credit hours as the normally desirable full-time load in a fall or spring semester; a comparable load in a summer session would be six hours. Graduate Teaching Assistants may reduce their graduate course load according to the amount of time they spend teaching. In order to facilitate satisfactory progress toward a degree, Graduate Teaching Assistants are expected to enroll in a minimum of six hours.

Advising

Students are encouraged and expected to select a member of the graduate faculty to serve as their academic advisor. Further, they are free to change advisors as their interests develop during the course of their graduate studies. The Director of Graduate Study is also available for academic advising.

Current and prospective graduate students can contact Communication Studies to set up an appointment with the Director of Graduate Studies. For advising questions regarding research progress, course credit towards degree, prospectus meetings, and dissertation progress, please contact: 

Dr. Yan Bing Zhang
Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
Phone: 785-864-9678
Email: ybzhang@ku.edu

For advising questions regarding university requirements, resources, petitions, program milestones, exam scheduling, graduation, and any other questions related to student success, please contact:

Alec Graham
Graduate Program Coordinator
785-864-2318
alec.graham@ku.edu
Office: 310 Bailey Hall